July 11, 2017

REVIEW: All You Need (Need You #3)

All You Need (Need You #3), by Lorelei James
Publish Date: April 4, 2017Publisher: Berkley RomanceFormat: ARC, provided by the publisherGenre: adult contemporary romanceTo Buy:Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Rating: 4.5 STARS
(Synopsis) PR agent Annika Lund can spin any disaster into a win. But revamping the reputation of a notorious Swedish hockey player will take every trick in her arsenal, especially when his agent insists that convincing everyone he’s no longer a playboy is top priority. And that it requires a sham relationship—with Annika playing the part of loving girlfriend.
On fire in the rink and in the bedroom, Axl Hammerquist couldn’t care less about being anyone’s golden boy. So when his agent forces him to play nice with a new publicist, he takes satisfaction in being as much of a pain as possible. But the more time he spends getting to know Annika, the more Axl starts to think that being Mr. Nice Guy might be worth it if it gets him the girl...

My favorite so far in Lorelei James' Need You series, All You Need was a fun and sexy enemies to friends to lovers story that checked all my boxes.

We met Swedish D-man Axl in book two, and it was obvious he was fond of the ladies. VERY fond of them. His continued fondness has created a bit of a PR nightmare for him and his agent, so they hire PR guru Annika Lund, sister to Brady (from book one) and Walker (from book two), to spruce up his image. After her first attempts fall flat, Axl's agent suggests an extreme measure - have Annika pretend she's his girlfriend.

There's a lot of deception in All You Need. Axl and Annika lie to the entire world about their relationship. Axl lies to his teammates and to Annika about his ability to speak English. And all this lying made a really good story. I found myself holding my breath through most of the book, waiting for those moments when the truth would come out and wondering how Axl and Annika would handle it.

I loved the natural progression of their relationship. Axl and Annika truly don't like each other in the beginning. He thinks she's shallow and she thinks he's a pig. But, when they're forced to spend time together and converse, they both discover that there's a lot more depth to both of them than what meets the eye. I liked that they formed a friendship first. Certainly there was a physical attraction there from the beginning. But, their physical relationship didn't start until they had a degree of trust in each other. So, that was perfect.

Very little goes smoothly for these two, which just sort of makes it even better. Their entire relationship is complicated and inconvenient. Which just makes their times together and their inevitable HEA that much sweeter. I liked that we saw some more from Brady and Walker and got to catch up on where they are in their relationships. We also got a lead-in to Jensen's story, and based on what I read, it sounds like it's going to be amazing. Judging by how each book in this series has just gotten better and better, I have no doubts.